NNew, modern binoculars – Sergeii has ten boxes of them in the car. He takes her to the volunteer units in Chernihiv. No harmless delivery, because the city of almost 300,000 inhabitants, about 150 kilometers north-east of Kyiv, is under constant fire from the Russian army.
How dangerous the journey is becomes clear on the 150-kilometer route. A Sukhoi fighter plane targets the car, descends, and fires a grenade. Luckily the pilot misses his target. Sergeii just laughs and hits the gas pedal.
He wants to see his wife Tatyana and his son Alexander, who are staying in the family apartment in Chernihiv. Despite the fact that Russian artillery and planes shell her hometown day and night. It’s totally indiscriminate shelling, constantly killing civilians. Several residential buildings have already been completely destroyed, 70 residents are dead.
“Putin is a neo-Nazi,” says one of the older women
Actually, Chernihiv is known for its beautiful monasteries and the oldest cathedral in Ukraine. Today the city feels like the spawn of hell. Thick black smoke hangs over the city. The oil terminal is on fire after a Russian hit. Craters have ripped into roads and green spaces. Trees have been cut down, boulders, remains of cars and furniture are lying around.
Sirens wail, shots ring out and the recurring thunder of explosions is omnipresent. Terrified, the residents wait in their basements in the dark, without water, heating or electricity. For over a week they have been sleeping in their coats with woolen scarves around their heads, on the bare floor only with thin blankets.
If they are lucky, they get something warm to eat once a day. Volunteers join them in the basement and bring soup. These are conditions that people only know from stories from World War II. “Putin is a neo-Nazi,” says one of the older women. She has many small wounds all over her face from flying glass fragments. A Russian missile destroyed the 17-story apartment building above them. But fortunately everyone survived because the basement withstood the bomb.
“Putin is a neo-Nazi,” says one of the older women
Source: RICARDO GARCIA VILANOVA
The ten-year-old is now in the hospital with severe head trauma
Others were less fortunate. 33 people died when the five-story house of Sergeii and Alexander was hit. “I was looking out the window with my son when the rocket hit,” says Sergeii. “Splinters of glass flew everywhere and shrapnel hit my son in the head.” Sergeii pulled it out intuitively, but his ten-year-old son is now in the hospital with severe head trauma.
His wife and two other children, aged four and nine, survived the Russian air raid unscathed. Her apartment was in the last third of the building with three separate entrances. The residents in the front part where the rocket hit all died. “Give us the pilot who is responsible for the deaths of the people,” says Alexander in front of the remains of his blue car. “We know what to do with him.”
He means the Russian pilot who was shot down near Chernihiv on Saturday and was able to save himself with the ejection seat. Ukrainian soldiers captured him with only minor injuries. “It was my first mission and I didn’t know what and who I was bombing,” the pilot claimed after his arrest.
But he was already flying for Russia in Syria, and there are said to be photos showing him with President Bashar al-Assad. In Syria, Russian warplanes have deliberately attacked civilian facilities, hospitals, schools and marketplaces for years, killing many hundreds of people. It seems that Russia is using these perfidious tactics in violation of international law in Chernihiv and the rest of Ukraine. There were also attacks on residential areas and the civilian population in other parts of the country.
“You don’t know if you’ll wake up in the morning”
The wife of Sergeii, the driver who successfully brought the telescopes to the volunteer units, is standing in the kitchen cooking dumplings with meat. There are also pickled cucumbers, cheese and beetroot. “You know, when you go to bed at night, you don’t know if you’ll wake up in the morning,” says Tatjana. “There are no plans for the future, only today counts.”
She doesn’t want to flee, no matter how dangerous the situation may be. Her son Alexander also wants to stay. “Anyone who abandons their homeland is ultimately a traitor,” he says, briefly adjusting his black glasses. He is proud of his Ukraine. The Russian attack has welded the nation even more together.
Alexander wants to stay in Ukraine
Source: RICARDO GARCIA VILANOVA
“No one would have thought that Ukrainians would be ready for such acts and sacrifices.” He means the military successes against an apparently overpowering enemy. All the volunteers fighting, helping and donating by the thousands. “Even if we lose, which I don’t believe, we will fight against the Russian occupation like the partisans did in World War II,” claims the 23-year-old, who works for an IT company, euphorically.
Father Sergeii is not in a good mood. He would have brought his wife and son to Kyiv long ago. They would be safe there. “What can I say?” he says. “They’re both so stubborn and want to stay that I can’t do anything.” He shrugs and shakes his head. He is also worried about the whereabouts of the family. The apartment is on the seventh floor. The higher, the more likely a mortar, grenade or rocket will hit.
“Mathematically it is very unlikely”
“I’m not afraid,” says son Alexander. “Mathematically, it is very unlikely that our apartment will be hit.” His mother Tatjana replies dryly: “But now our neighbors who lived on one of the upper floors are dead.” Alexander remains silent and folds his arms.
Debris in Chernihiv
Source: RICARDO GARCIA VILANOVA
The next morning, Sergeii leaves his wife and son in embattled Chernihiv. He’s going back to Kyiv to see what to transport to the front next. It is uncertain when and if he will ever see his family again. But he doesn’t seem to mind. In any case, he doesn’t give a damn.
“We are fighting against an invasion, for our country and our nation,” he says. Sergei is tired. In bed in his own apartment he could hardly close an eye. The continuous explosions kept him from sleeping. But at least on the road to Kyiv there are no incidents. It stays calm. No Sukhoi fighter jets trying to bomb the car. Only the checkpoints in the Ukrainian capital are annoying. Long lines of vehicles. And it takes hours to get back to the city center.